Yep, that game was more enigma than fact re: that playoffs, but you could clearly see the dude mind melting into some sort of confused internal war.

Of course, it happened the year he had so many role players around him (even if they sucked for the most part) real LBJ could have had a shot at the title... that is, if Shaq wasn't poisoning the locker room and Mo Williams somehow became good (which is pretty damn unclikely).

Hate to agree for many reasons but even as far as Boston Game 3 in 2010 he was "LeBron".

Like he was conflicted that whole series as to who he was and what was coming, which doesn't explain him going completely in the tank at home in Game 5, or justify him quitting like a spoiled fucking child in Game 6, but at least it's a data point to consider.

I don't need to be patient, they're going to be shit forever. - CDT, discussing my favorite NFL team

Hate to agree for many reasons but even as far as Boston Game 3 in 2010 he was "LeBron".

Like he was conflicted that whole series as to who he was and what was coming, which doesn't explain him going completely in the tank at home in Game 5, or justify him quitting like a spoiled fucking child in Game 6, but at least it's a data point to consider.

e0y2e3 wrote:And re: the supporting casts, this board is the same group of reactionaries that cried about Sessions being given away for nothing for a month, when in all reality LA now feels like they got hosed.

C'mon that's justified. With the way Kyrie played, if AV was healthy, Sessions was the cog that would have made this team an 8th seed easily..........

Galley Boys are slop on top of a so-so burger and a bun you coulde get from a Covneninet food mart generic pack. They the Antoine Joubert of burgers; soft, sloppy, oozing grease and cheap sauce and extremely overrated by a biased fan base. Proof that if you throw enough cheap sauce shit on a burger you still can't overcome the lame burger. -JB

If you're saying the guy had some type of mini breakdown I can agree. Not saying he quit on purpose to screw over the Cavs and the city of Cleveland (Dan Gilbert's rationale). But clearly something happened.

I don't need to be patient, they're going to be shit forever. - CDT, discussing my favorite NFL team

e0y2e3 wrote:LeBron was the most clutch player in the NBA until the 2010 playoffs.

The fact that series like 2009 w/ Orlando were even close were only because of his greatness, as the team around him was pretty ass cobbler.

What LBJ did last game, it was factually "went Cleveland." He played like the best, least intimidated player in the game and that is something he hasn't done in the playoffs since 2009.

You're drastically selling short just how GREAT LBJ had to be to make the 2008 Celtics series and 2009 Orlando series even close. He was dragging multiple 100 pound weights around the court at all times. Also, he nearly beat the Pistons in 2006 when he had an even worse team...

Despite all of the revisionist history in Cleveland, LBJ was a truly great playoff player that did it without ANY supporting cast right up until 2010, when he started to choke.

Boston isn't healthy, one of their best defenders (Bradley) is still hurt and Allen is not healthy at all.

That said, after that bullshit Haslem and then Pittman pulled last night the Heat should be without Pittman for 5+ games and Haslem for 1. Odds are Stu Jackson doesn't have the balls to suspend someone not named Ron Artest though, even if Pittman's intentional foul on Stevenson was the worst foul I have ever seen when considering intent to injure.

This is a great thread. I won't say too much in an effort not to ruin it too much! eo's posts all the way through are 100 percent right on in my opinion. It is blasphemous, but I am finding it almost impossible not to pull for LeBron these playoffs. We are seeing simply an unbelievably great player. Most of it for me is watching LeBron do what he did in game 4 then listen to human ass wipes like Skip Bayless talk about how LeBrons 40/18/9 were meaningless compared to what Dwayne Wade did that game. People who live in a vacuum. YEah, LeBron has screwed up in playoff games (finals last year, Boston '10) and his ESPN debacle last summer was hideous but people act like he'd been a failure in every post season game he's ever played and the complete opposite is what is true...eo bringing up the Orlando '09 series, the Boston '08 series against a great Boston team, not even mentioning what he did in the Eastern Conference finals against Detroit in '07 or Chicago last year. It really is a no win...if Miami wins it's because of the "have a ring already" Dwayne Wade, if they lose it's all LeBron's fault, period. That's the life he's chosen and I guess it's deserved.

It's a different world, someone once brought up look how many consecutive years the logo failed to win a championship...if he played today Jerry West would be considered and reviled as a gutless loser who couldn't close the deal regardless of how many half court shots he made in the NBA finals!

e0y2e3 wrote:That said, you have C-Webb on the flip side of the coin, a guy who was one terrible officiating blunder away from a title and may not make the Hall because of it.

Webber's loser status was burnished at scUM; his NBA career only furthered it. He more than any other great player, probably ever, needed that NBA ring to solidify his place in history.

Pure talent alone, he's a top 5 greatest PF. Entering the NBA with a gigantic handicap due to his failures in college and then never wiping out those memories drops him in the eyes of most and in the history books.